Process of making matches.



Patented Dec. I7, 190M P. BERGSUE.

PROCESS OF MAKING MATCHES.

Application filed May 29, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES n'rnwt trace.

PAUL BERGSOE, OF COPENHAGEN, DENMARK.

PROCESS OF MAKING MATCHES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 689,055, dated December17, 1901.

I Application filed May 29, 1900. Serial No. 18,410. (No specimens.)

T0 ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL BERGSOE, a subject of the King of Denmark,residing at Oopenhagen, in the Kingdom of Denmark, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Matches, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The present invention relates to a process for making headless matchesfrom wood, cellulose, or other porous combustible materials with which asoluble ignitible salt is incorporated by impregnation.

According to the processes hitherto employed the splints from which thematches were to be made were placed together to form a block and the oneend surface was then dipped into the hot saturated solution of theignitible salt. In the process that forms the subject-matter of thisapplication the evaporation of the water is utilized to bring thequantity of salt necessary for producing a good match into one or bothends of the splints. As an example of ignitible salts, chlorates ofbarium, of potash, &c., may be named. With the more ignitible saltsweaker solutions may be used. When a splint is fully impregnated and theevaporation of the water is prevented at all parts with the exception ofone end by a covering or the like, the water will then only be able toevaporate at this exposed part. The ignitible salt which was previouslycontained in the splint will thus be caused to set tle in the wood atthe exposed part in a concentrated form. The action is analogous to whattakes place in the formation of wall-saltpeter.

In carrying out this invention in one form it is first necessary tofully impregnate the fire-maintaining material, by which I mean thematerial of which the splints are made, which after the ignition-surfacehas been'ignited by friction holds or maintains the fire from which thesplints are made with a hot or cold solution of the ignitible salt andto then dry the same by causing the water to evaporate exclusively atthe end surface or end surfaces.

The invention can be carried out in various ways.

The ready-cut splints of wood, cellulose, or other material may bedipped into the solution of the ignitible salt and then after they arefully impregnated so secured in a frame that the water can onlyevaporate at the end surface or end surfaces of the splints, or thesplints (of wood, cellulose, or other material) can first he placedtogether to form a block, which is dipped into the solution of salt andthen dried as above, or the material (wood, cellulose, or othermaterial) can he dipped into the solution of salt in its original formthat is, in unformed pieces-then cut into splints while still wet,secured in blocks, and dried, as above, or, finally, the material (wood,cellulose, or other material) can be dipped into the solution of salt inits original form that is, in unformed pieces then dried by exposing oneor both surfaces, and cut into splints that constitute the finishedmatches.

This process may he carried out in many different Ways, and in theaccompanying drawings one method is shown.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a frame; and Fig. 2, a cross-section of thesame on the plane AB, in which the individual splints may be placed fordrying after being impregnated or the whole mass of wood may be driedbefore being cut up into splints.

1n impregnating the splints after placing them in the frame or b theframe is held in the position shown in Fig. 2, the open side beingdownward, so that the exposed portions of the splints can he dipped intothe surface of the impregnating solution. It is also an advantage tosupport the frame in the same position while the superfluous solutiondrips from it or even throughout the drying process, in which eventgravity tends to assist somewhat in drawing the evaporating solution tothe exposed ends of the splints.

The advantages of this process for making matches consist, first, in thefact that it is not necessary to use hot saturated solutions ashitherto, and, secondly, that a number of ignitible salts can be usedwhich were not hitherto utilizahle, because a hot saturated solution ofthe same could not be formed in corn sequence of dissociationcommencing.

It was absolutely necessary to use a hot saturated solution in theprocesses hitherto employed, as only by dipping the ends of the splintsinto such a solution could suffieient salt be absorbed. Thesedisadvantages are overcome by the present invention, inasmuch as all theignitible salt present in the splint after the impregnation is broughtto the surface at which the water is evaporating, 'so that there is atthis surface a plentiful quantity of salt.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the'Unite'dStates, is

1. The process of making matches which consists in drawing andconcentrating the ignitible salt in the required quantity toward theignition-surface of the fire-maintaining material, by impregnating thesaid material of the match with a solution of said ignitible salt andevaporating the solvent from the ignition-surface to a greater extentthan elsewhere, substantially as set forth.

2. The process of making matches which consists in steeping the wholefire-maintaining material in a solution of ignitible salt, and thenevaporating the solution by exposing alone that part which is to formthe ignition portion of the match, substantially as set forth.

. 3. The process of making matches which consists in dipping the Wholefire-maintaining material of the match-splint into a solution of anignitihle salt and then partially inclosing the said splint to preventevaporation from the inclosed portions and evaporating the solvent fromthe ignition-surface, and then drying, substantially as set forth.

4. The process of making matches which consists in steeping the wholefire-n1aintaining material of the match-splints in a compact form, atany stage of their production, into a solution of an ignitible salt andthen drying them in such compact form by exposing only theignition-surface, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twowitnesses.

PAUL BERGSOE.

VVit-nesses:

E. BETZ, L Gossow.

